THEATER REVIEW: Long live 'The 'King and I'

Friday

Apr 14, 2017 at 2:15 PMApr 14, 2017 at 3:29 PM

A lavish touring production takes over Boston Opera House.

By Iris Fanger/For The Patriot Ledger

In 1862, when Queen Victoria was on the throne in England and Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a novel that inflamed the passions of her fellow Americans to fight slavery through a bitter Civil War, a governess named Anna Leonowens arrived in Siam to teach English and Western ways to the children of the king. Her memoirs and the novel about her life, “Anna and the King of Siam,” inspired Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to craft “The King and I,” one of their most evocative musicals. It premiered on Broadway in 1951.

Anna and her young son sailed into the Boston Opera House earlier this week in the sumptuous touring production originally mounted at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater in 2015. Under the direction of Bartlett Sher, it won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

The Broadway and London star, Laura Michelle Kelly (of the lovely soprano voice and stalwart manner) is cast as Anna, opposite the imperious King (Jose Llana in a stunning, nuanced performance), father of more than 70 children by a bewildering number of wives and concubines.

As befitting a major revival of a beloved classic, the settings by Michael Yeargan could not be more elaborate and the costumes by Catherine Zuber, featuring a wardrobe of Anna’s huge, bell-shaped, crinoline skirted gowns, in contrast to the slim, silken silhouettes for the Siamese women, make a show by themselves.

The issue of the place of women in a male-dominated society is front and center from the top when Anna demands the separate house that the King had promised her instead of living in the palace. The King knows where women belong, under his control and at his bidding, as shown by the beautiful young slave girl, Tuptim (Manna Nichols), a gift from the King of Burma.

The King is bewildered that she doesn’t return the “honor” of his attentions but she is in love with Lun Tha (Kavin Panmeechao), the envoy who delivered her.

The King and Anna battle for control throughout the nearly three-hour long show, gradually getting to respect one another and perhaps something more, acknowledged in the unforgettable song-and-dance number, “Shall We Dance?” The King allows Anna to teach him the polka; she lets him hold her around the waist as they step together through space. For a moment, the “what if” between them becomes more than sub-text.

The doomed love affair between Tuptim and Lun Tha is foreshadowed by the charming dramatization – Siamese style – of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” recreated from Jerome Robbins’ 1951 staging by choreographer, Christopher Gattelli. The brutal outcome of the forbidden romance, expressed so eloquently in their duet, “We Kiss In The Shadows,” emphasizes the gulf between East and West, despite the other major theme, “Getting to Know You,” the two-way exchange about how people learn each other’s ways.

Although the musical is rife with the cliches about the “barbarians,” and the unfortunate colonial intentions by the Western nations, Rodgers and Hammerstein were pioneers in pleading for understanding between the different cultures.

In contrast to the musicals being produced that have a more personal viewpoint and lively staging, Sher has presented an operatic-like performance, sometimes slow but always touching. The touring sets and blocking move horizontally, back and forth between the two sides of the stage, which add to the sometimes heavy feel to the action.

However, the breath-taking score sung by the leads and a full-throated ensemble makes this production a worthy introduction to the Rodgers and Hammerstein legacy and a welcome re-visit for those of us who have cherished the show.THE KING AND I Presented by Broadway in Boston through April 23 at the Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St., $44 and up. 800-982-2787; BroadwayInBoston.com